1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to fishing reels, and particularly to motorized electrically power driven fishing reels used in sport fishing.
2. Description of Related Art
Fishing is a popular sport, hobby, and commercial venture around the world. Modern fishing typically involves the use of a rod, reel and tackle. As is well known, a fishing reel is typically connected to the fishing pole, and includes a spool to allow for fishing line to be drawn out and reeled in. There are a wide variety of fishing reels including, bait-casting reels, spinning reels, spin casting reels, and saltwater conventional and casting reels.
Sport fishing for game fish, such as sword fish, often involves “deep drop” techniques that use heavy test (65.0 0 80.0 lb. test) and/or braided fishing line dispensed to significantly deep depths, typically depths of 1800 feet or more. In such situations, the length of line dispensed from the reel renders manual retrieval a time consuming and laborious process.
As a result, the prior art reveals advancements in fishing reel design directed to providing fishing reels adapted with power assisted winding. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 902,447, issued to Piper in 1908, disclose a fishing pole having an electrically operated winding reel. Various other early power assisted fishing reels are disclosed in the following references: U.S. Pat. No. 1,005,015, issued to French (1911); U.S. Pat. No. 2,190,398, issued to Bugatti (1937); U.S. Pat. No. 2,714,271, issued to Stratton (1955); and U.S. Pat. No. 2,760,736, issued to Mihalko (1956). U.S. Pat. No. 3,922,808, issued to Rieth et al. (1975), discloses a trolling reel capable of automatically positioning the end a line at a desired distance or depth. Further, U.S. Pat. No. 4,021,003, issued to Watkins (1977) and others disclose powered reels that retain the ability to manually reel in the line. U.S. Pat. No. 5,236,147, issued to Kaneko (1993), discloses a fishing reel with a computer line length and display that determines the unwound length of fishing line based on the number of spool revolutions. Further, U.S. Pat. No. 7,175,120, to Ono (2007), and U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,334,749 and 7,398,939, issued to Terauchi et al. (2008) disclose electric fishing reels patented by Diawa Seiko, Inc.
While the above-referenced disclosures reveal limited advancements in the art of motor driven fishing reels there exists a need for further advancements in the art. More particularly, a number of the prior art disclosures rely on conventional brushed DC electric motors to provide the driving force for the reel. Brushed DC electric motors have metallic brushes that are highly susceptible to corrosion related failure, particularly when used in harsh salt water environments. An additional limitation common in the prior art systems is the limitation of having but a single, relatively slow speed. Yet another limitation present in the art relates to the lack of remote control actuation. Accordingly, there exists a need for advancements in the art of motor driven fishing reels.